STS-100 Day 6 Highlights

Unpacking a space-based moving van and taking a second walk in space
is the order of business today for astronauts and cosmonauts orbiting
in the International Space Station and aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour.

The Raffaello logistics module, now open for business following
yesterday's berthing to the side of the station's Unity module,
will be unloaded over the course of the next five days and then
reloaded with unneeded cargo from the station for return to Earth.

While the Expedition Two crew of Commander Yury Usachev and Flight
Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms begin to transfer goods from
Raffaello, on the other side of the hatch aboard Endeavour, Scott
Parazynski and Chris Hadfield planned to conduct the second
Extravehicular Activity beginning about 8 a.m.

The first order of business for the veteran spacewalkers will be to
connect power, computer and video cables to the Power and Data Grapple
Fixture on the side of the station's Destiny laboratory. An antenna
on Unity will be removed, as it is no longer needed. Cables on the
pallet that carried the new robot arm to the station will be
disconnected. Once those cables are removed, the Canadian-built
Canadarm2 will be receiving power and communicating with the
station's Robotics Work Station inside Destiny.

Near the end of the planned 6-½ hour spacewalk, Helms will
command the station's new robotic arm to pick up the 3,000-pound
pallet that delivered it to space. She then will maneuver the pallet
through various positions to test the arm with a load. Helms will
finish today's tests by maneuvering the pallet over Endeavour's
payload bay where it will remain parked overnight, still attached to
the high-tech robotic arm.

The day began for the astronauts and cosmonauts with the dolcit
tones of Louis Armstrong singing “What A Wonderful World.“ The
song was played for Parazynski in honor of today's spacewalk.

Included in the nearly two tons of equipment being off-loaded from
the Italian-built Raffaello are two new experiment racks that soon
will be filled with science experiments currently in Endeavour's
middeck, and other experiments that will be brought to the station on
future shuttle missions. Once the hatches are open late this afternoon
after the spacewalk, European Space AgencyastronautUmberto Guidoni
will take the lead in assisting the station crewmembers in the
unloading of Raffaello and the repacking of discarded items in the
module for return to Earth.

Both spacecraft are in excellent shape orbiting the Earth every 92
minutes at an altitude of 237 statute miles. The next status report
will be issued this evening after the crew goes to sleep, or when
events warrant.

Endeavour's two space walkers -- Canadian Chris Hadfield and
American Scott Parazynski-- worked as space-age electricians today,
completing connections that allowed the new International Space
Station robotic arm to operate from a new base on the outside of the
Destiny science lab.

Expedition 2 Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms steered
Canadarm2 as it lifted its first payload in space, a 3,000-pound
pallet that the 57-foot-long arm had been nestled in for launch in the
shuttle's cargo bay.

Today's 7 hour, 40 minute spacewalk began at 7:34 a.m. Central
time, as Hadfield and Parazynski worked to complete all of the primary
goals of the mission, including the connection of the Power and Data
Grapple Fixture circuits for the new arm on Destiny, the removal of an
early communications antenna and the transfer of a spare Direct
Current Switching Unit from the shuttle's payload bay to an
equipment storage rack on the outside of Destiny.

As the pair rewired power and data connections for Canadarm2, the
backup power circuit failed to respond to commanding from Helms, who
was operating from a workstation inside Destiny. Hadfield and
Parazynski opened a panel to gain access to another connector at the
base of the arm and after disconnecting and reconnecting cables, were
able to complete the redundant power path to the arm to the cheers of
flight controllers in Houston.

During the removal of the early communications antenna, an
electrical connector cover got away from Hadfield and nestled behind a
thermal cover in the docking port to which the airlock will be mated
in June. After two unsuccessful attempts to locate the errant piece of
metal – which required extensive coordination between the shuttle
and station flight control teams on the ground -- Hadfield was
instructed to stop searching and to move on to other work. The errant
component is not expected to have any impact on future
operations. With all of their work successfully completed, Hadfield
and Parazynski completed their space walk at 3:15 p.m., bringing the
total spacewalk time on STS-100 to 14 hours, 50 minutes. A potential
third spacewalk on Thursday likely will not be needed.

Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev and Station crewmates Voss and
Helms started their workday transferring supplies, equipment and
experiment racks from the Raffaello cargo module, which is berthed to
the Unity connecting node.

After the spacewalk was completed, the two crews turned their
attention to reopening the hatches between the station and
shuttle. Commander Kent Rominger reported that Endeavour's crew had
returned to the ISS at 5:15 p.m. to set the stage for the resumption
of transfer activities on Wednesday. The two crews will begin their
sleep periods shortly after 6:30 p.m.

Both spacecraft are in excellent shape orbiting the Earth every 92
minutes at an altitude of 237 statute miles. The next status report
will be issued Wednesday morning after crew wakeup, or sooner, if
events warrant.